RASK to present World Wwar II lecture

By John Redmond

The Royal Asiatic Society of Korea (RASK) will host a lecture “The Long-Forgotten World War II Prisoner of War Camps in Korea” by Jacco Zwetsloot at the second floor Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace, Seoul.

As an (unwilling) part of the Japanese Empire, Korea was involved in World War II. Everyone has heard stories of the conscripts, forced labor, and “comfort women.” However, fighting did not actually occur on Korean soil. Soviet forces arrived in Korea from Manchuria in mid to late August 1945, and U.S. troops made landfall in Incheon on Sept. 8 to receive the Japanese surrender and disarm and demobilize Japan’s military.

One aspect of Korean history during that period that has been forgotten – seemingly by all sides ― is the approximately 1,500 allied prisoners of war (POWs) who were held in Korea from September 1942, only a couple of months after the last non-Axis foreign civilians had been forcibly deported from Korea by ship.

The first Allies to be imprisoned here were British and Australian troops from the fall of Singapore. They were joined towards the end of the war by American soldiers captured in the Philippines, after they were initially held in the notorious “hell ships,” as well as in Japan. In all, three camps were operated, run by Japanese officers and staffed by Korean conscripts and civilians.

A few POWs died but most were rescued and brought home in September 1945.

Jacco Zwetsloot will give a presentation about these camps and how their locations were recently rediscovered by himself and Matthew Van Volkenburg.

Zwetsloot describes himself as a “Jacco of all trades, master of some.” In the past year he has worked as a business English teacher, translator, interpreter, simulation facilitator, corporate trainer, documentary cameraman and cataloguer, cultural lecturer, souvenir evaluator, radio commentator, magazine writer, voice actor, researcher, copy editor and tour guide.

He is currently seeking a publisher interested in releasing translations of several North Korean comic books. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Korean Studies from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia and has lived in South Korea for over 12 years.

The lecture will be on Feb. 26 from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Admission is 7,000 won (non-members) and free for RASK members.